Password Plus - Show 514 - Airdate 12/23/80

Here is the Password + Dick Martin "French" episode that is THE funniest episode from the series. This episode has aired on GSN and parts of it are spread in many places thanks to YouTube and others.

What makes this version special is it has everything that was recorded to videotape for that episode. It is intact from top to bottom. Worth noting are the slate with program info, long pauses to talk with Bobby Sherman off camera and two pickup shots thrown in the black section of the last commercial break. This tape is a roll from the pre-post production session.

Special Thanks to Tom Kennedy for saving this rare episode and donating it to the museum for everyone to enjoy !

Program Information

Hosts

Password Plus was hosted by original Password host Allen Ludden from January 1979 to April 1980, when he had to take a leave of absence from the show due to stomach cancer. Bill Cullen, who was hosting Chain Reaction at the time, took over as substitute host for a month while Ludden recovered. Ludden returned in May, but by October, had suffered a stroke as well as having his cancer recur, and was forced to retire; he would never appear on television again before his 1981 death (though he did do a phone-in on The Mike Douglas Show and voice-overs for some Los Angeles bank commercials shortly before passing). Because Cullen had recently begun hosting the Goodson-packaged Blockbusters, Tom Kennedy took over the podium and remained host until Plus ended.

Tom Kennedy was considered to host Super Password, but was already busy emceeing Body Language on CBS, therefore, Bert Convy was tapped as the new host,and did so for the entire run.

Announcers

Gene Wood was the regular announcer on Password Plus. Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, John Harlan, and Rich Jeffries substituted for him on some episodes of Password Plus, including a stretch in 1981 when Wood was recovering from an accident. Rich Jeffries filled in on occasion in 1981 and 1982 on Password Plus.

Game play

Two teams, each comprised of a contestant and a celebrity, competed against each other. The object, as on the original Password, was for the clue-giving partner to try to get the receiving partner to guess a given word (the "password"). The giving partner on the first team offered a one-word clue, to which the receiving partner was allowed one guess; there were brief time limits for both the clue and the guess. Teams alternated giving one-word clues until the password was guessed, or until each side had given two clues (three in the early days of Password Plus until June 15, 1979). Giving an illegal clue (multiple words, using over-expressive gestures, forms of the password, made-up words, etc.) forfeited the receiver's turn to guess, as did having clue-giving time expire without giving a clue.

The new element of the revivals was the "Password Puzzle". Each password, once revealed, became one of five clues referring to a person, place or thing. The passwords themselves were not worth any money; only the puzzle affected the scores. A guesser who correctly guessed a password was given a guess at the answer to the puzzle. A password that was not guessed by either player was added to the board without a guess at the puzzle. For the final password in a puzzle, if the guesser was incorrect, their partner was given a guess as well. On Password Plus, the puzzle would be thrown out if the partner failed to guess. If the final password in a puzzle was not guessed, the answer to the puzzle was revealed, and a new puzzle was played. Correctly guessing the puzzle netted the contestant money; any remaining clues would be revealed and a new puzzle would be played until one contestant had enough money to win the game.

Like the ABC run of Password, the first clue-giver for each password on Password Plus had the option to give the first clue or pass to the other team. Originally, the team that didn't get the previous password was given the option, but this changed a few months into the run. 

This option was eliminated on Super Password.

Beginning in April 23, 1979, several rules were added to Password Plus: Direct opposites of the password (e.g. "loose" for "tight") were disallowed as clues. If the clue-giving partner failed to give a clue, or say "pass" or "play" within the time limit, the opposing team was given control, and was allowed two clues for the word.

Payoff

Originally on Password Plus, the first team to accumulate $300 was the winner. The first two puzzles were worth $100 each, with each subsequent puzzle worth $200 until a winner was crowned.

Towards the end of Password Plus's run, the goal became $500, with the first three puzzles being worth $100 and the remainder worth $200. 

This increased the minimum number of puzzles that needed to be played in a game from three to four. The contestants also switched celebrity partners after the third puzzle; before the change, the champion would switch celebrity partners at the start of the next game.

Alphabetics

The winning team would go on to play for a cash prize in the bonus round, called "Alphabetics" on Password Plus.

The gameplay of the round was the same on both shows: The round featured 10 passwords beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet (A-J, B-K, etc.). The celebrity was always the clue-giver; they were shown only the current password until it was guessed or they passed. 

They had to give as many one-word clues as they could until the contestant guessed the password; they could give sentences, but had to pause distinctly between words. For the period on Password Plus in which opposites were forbidden, this was enforced in Alphabetics as well. There was a 60-second time limit; if the contestant guessed all ten words, they won the jackpot; otherwise, they won $100 per correct guess.

On Password Plus, the grand prize was originally a flat $5,000, with each illegal clue reducing its potential value by one fifth of the total ($1,000). Towards the end of the show's run, the bonus round was played for an accumulating jackpot, which would start at $5,000 and increase by that much each time it was not won, up to a limit of $50,000 (which was never reached). Illegal clues still reduced the pot by one fifth (e.g.: a $30,000 pot would have $6,000 deducted for each illegal clue), but this was later changed to a flat $2,500 reduction in late 1981. By the final episode, the one-fifth reduction had returned.

Tournaments

Password Plus also held an all-star week with various stars playing for charity. The endgame was played for $5,000 to be split between the partners' respective charities. When played on P+, a $5,000 bonus was awarded to the one (or more) player(s) with the highest single total.

Merchandise

A Password Plus board game was made by Milton Bradley in the early 1980s, but it only had cards for the board, and not for the leatherettes, or readers, as the normal Password games had featured.

Episode status

All episodes of Password Plus are intact, and currently air on GSN.

Episode #111 of Password Plus, the first episode of the Elaine Joyce & George Peppard week, was skipped over during the shows' original run due to Peppard's controversial rant about his true feeling regarding the rules of certain NBC game shows. The remaining 4 episodes of that particular week aired instead (June 11-14, 1979). He was never invited back because of his rant. The week after that, with Sarah Purcell & Bill Anderson, ran for 5 episodes from June 15, 18-21, 1979. To make up for the skipped episode, 6 episodes were taped the week after that with Judy Norton-Taylor & Robert Walden, and all 6 episodes aired from June 22, 25-29, 1979. The unaired episode resurfaced when GSN began airing reruns of the show in the mid-1990's.